Saturday Surgery

A very interesting surgery with subject ranging from the inimitable dog poo issue through to buses, planning and finishing up with a deputation about Druitt Hall which I will come to later. On a bright note the kind lady who congratulated the Council on it's standard of street cleaning was most welcome. There is still concern about the safety of the traffic calming system in Stanpit but actually this enabled me to dwell on the fact that we do not now get complaints about speeding along this road. When I started in 2007 that was just about all I dealt with. On reflection I haven't had a speeding complaint for years so I conclude that as that was why the calming was put in place in the first place the system must be working. On dog poo we are now up to 17 penalty notices for this offence and yet we are still getting a problem especially at Purewell Cross. If you see this happening make a note to advise Sparky or one of our wardens please. One of my frustrations about being a Councillor is discussing issues with residents who are in denial about the economic situation we are in and how it limits what Councils like ours can and cannot do. The usual reaction is that when we are forced to make difficult decisions which are not popular with a minority interest, they claim that they are not being listened to,what this really means is that we having listened and having taken decision based on hard economic facts, on behalf of the whole Borough they do not want their particular project affected. Such is the case regrettably with Druitt Hall. Making ends meet is hard at present and getting tougher and we as a responsible Council must base decisions on what is ahead of us, not what has passed. As you can imagine there was a failure to agree with the representation from Druitt Hall.I am very sorry about that but will support the building of a modest replacement adjacent to the existing hall when they are able to finance it.